50* Plus Water!

[LSU Fan]

Planning to go to Lake Mackintosh in Burlington, NC Thursday.  I've been told water temps in 50plus degree.  Anyone with info what's good bait for catchin' Bass on the lake with 50* plus water?  

[WRB]

Everything works in 50+ degree water, just need to find what depth the bass are in and put the lures in front of them.

Typically LMB I’ll be around schools of baitfish or looking for crawdads.

Don’t know what you have for tackle or lures??

Tom

[Smokinal]

First 3 that come to mind are...in no particular order...jerkbait, red craw trap and a blk/blu Space Monkey on a football jighead

Ok,,,maybe in that order 😁

[LSU Fan]

Thanks for your response.  Ride the lake slowly searching for bait balls.   I found info where a 5/16 oz, 3/8 oz jig along with a 5-1/2" Senko pitched wacky style working real slow.

[WRB]

The easiest way to locate bait schools is looking for birds that feed on the bait.Birds have amazing ability to find bait fish.

Tom

[Bird]

Our water is 43* currently and it's been slow fishing.

1/8 - 3/8 jigs and spinnerbaits have been responsible for what few fish I've caught.

 

Suspending Jerkbaits and underspins have always produced in the past in cooler water temps.

So far in December I'm only averaging 1 fish every 2 hours fishing from 10 am until 2 pm.

Good luck.

[FishTax]

Do you have sonar?

 

I think an underspin is a great search bait. Mackintosh has lots of points and wood, I can usually pull a couple from somewhere on a point with a shaky head, but finding out what depth they're in is key. Try tossing a jig or worm at lay downs in the sun near deep water. 

[WRB]

Bass feeding on school Shad a structure or line through tail spin* are hard to beat for catching numbers of bass.

Tom

* Wing Ding / Rinky Dink

[RHuff]

On 12/6/2023 at 9:05 PM, WRB said:

Everything works in 50+ degree water, just need to find what depth the bass are in and put the lures in front of them.

Typically LMB I’ll be around schools of baitfish or looking for crawdads.

Don’t know what you have for tackle or lures??

Tom

 

 I understand schools of baitfish but would you mind to expand on your process for looking for crawdads? Thanks 

[PaulVE64]

1 hour ago, RHuff said:

 

 I understand schools of baitfish but would you mind to expand on your process for looking for crawdads? Thanks 

Rocky structure with some current. 

[RHuff]

On 12/12/2023 at 3:48 PM, PaulVE64 said:

Rocky structure with some current. 

 

 Low light conditions??

[PaulVE64]

All conditions above 50° F